Dyed before it is woven, so no two ever match.

P ua kumbu is the ceremonial cloth of the Iban. The pattern is tied and dyed into the warp before a single row is woven, which is why an ikat panel can never be reproduced exactly.

Engkudu red is raised from root over weeks of repeated baths. Tarum indigo is fermented from leaf. Both are grown within walking distance of the loom.

The motifs are not decoration. They are records — of a dream, a rank, a debt, a warning — and the right to weave certain patterns is still earned rather than chosen.